History Repeats Itself
by Tora-Hime-Melody
Summary: Kaiyo was a normal girl who had many friends. Then she was sent to a new country her own safety. Now her old childhood friends have found her again. But with friends comes danger. Will Kaiyo be able to survive through the danger to find her true love?
1. Chapter 1

**This is based off the anime, not the manga. Yes, I HAVE watched the show and yes I know the characters may be OOC a bit; this is a twist on the normal scheme of things. And yes, I have read SOME of the manga. No, I don't intend to read more. This is the way I have written the story; take it or leave it. Thank you.**

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**Chapter 1: Return

The sun was bright, reflecting off the snow outside. Students sit at tables as they chat away with friends. It was the end of the last day before break for South High.

A teenage girl was sitting alone at a table. Her short brown hair just reached her shoulders. Her looks made her an outcast in her American high school, seeing as her origin of birth was in Japan. Leaning back, stretching out her back revealed what she was working on. A pencil and large eraser were resting on the hard surface next to a drawing notebook. She turned her soft brown eyes to the paper.

"I hate waiting for Savanna to get out of club. It always takes forever to get home, stupid carpool." She sighed as she lowered herself onto the paper to continue her work. She was finishing the final details on the two teen boys.

She took a deep breath as she held back the tears. It had been almost a decade since she last saw her best friends back in Japan. She only had her memories to work off of, but even those were getting fuzzy over time. She did what she could, making the picture out to be how her friends would look now.

"It's been awhile, Miss Kaiyo," a male voice spoke up.

The girl looked up to see copies of her drawings standing right before her. She never even heard footsteps approaching her. She looked dumbfounded at the pair before her.

"Yo, Kai," Kyo greeted.

The two teen boys stood before, all grown up from the last time she had seen them. They were both tall, about the same height. Yuki still had the same dark grey hair and matching eyes. Kyo's hair was shorter than last time, with matching color eyes as well. Not much had really changed.

"Don't you remember us?" Yuki questioned her.

She only managed to nod her head in agreement. She couldn't believe that her one wish had been granted. She rubbed furiously at her eyes; making sure that the scene before her wasn't a mirage.

"Then why are you over here sitting alone?" Kyo asked.

Kaiyo finally found her voice, "You see…I mean…" she stumbled over her words.

Yuki looked the girl over, "Are you ok?"

She simply nodded her head yes. No one was looking over at her like she was insane, talking to nothing. So they were really here.

"Then say something, damn it!" Kyo shouted a little too loud, "I mean…"

A smile cracked on her face, "It's ok."

Yuki sat down on the other side of the round table, "Why are you sitting here alone?"

"I'm just waiting for my ride to come and pick me up."

"So you're here, waiting each day?" Kyo inquired.

"Well the other person I ride with doesn't get done with club until four."

Yuki was bound to change the subject; it seemed she didn't like talking about her carpool. "It is good to see you after all of these years."

"Yeah, it's been almost eight years."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: History

_A mysterious heart illness was spreading through Japan. Kaiyo's parents were heart-specialist doctors, so they were going all around the country trying to save people's lives. They never lived in one place for very long. _

_ When Kaiyo was only 2½, her father passed away from the mysterious heart illness._

_ Her mother was called to another job. A boy at the age of six seemed to have come down with the same illness, but it hadn't taken him victim like the many others. Over a half a year's time she'd go into the sealed compound and check on the boy. After that, the single mother and her daughter were allowed to live in the walls of the Sohma family._

_ Kaiyo made many new friends. She had never been around so many kids that were around her own age. One day she was taken in to see the boy who was sick. They became instant friends, even though he was over double her age._

_ Every day her mother went to check in with Akito, the sick boy, Kaiyo would go too. She learned, even though she didn't understand it, the Sohma curse. A select 13 members of the family were cursed by animal spirits, or at least how she understood it. Kaiyo didn't understand how it affected her new friends, but she didn't care._

_ Time passed, and Kaiyo became closer to her new friends. A year after Kaiyo and her mother moved into the Sohma house, tragedy struck. Her mother died of the illness, just as her father had._

_ In her sadness and disarray, four year old Kaiyo ran to Akito for comfort. She cried in the eight-year-old's lap for hours on end. Akito stroked the girl's hair and held her until she fell asleep. He truly cared about the girl in his lap; she had trusted him enough to go to him first. It was the most trust anyone had ever put in him._

_ A feeling of warmth came over Akito as he held the sleeping girl. The pain, the sorrow, the burden of the curse was lifted. He looked down again, but he didn't see a girl anymore. He saw the key to his salvation. He was saved, thanks to his response to the crying thing that went to him for comfort. She was his._

_ Time passed and Kaiyo was able to be happy playing with her new friends. She got to take care of a little boy and a little girl, who were both born just before her mother died. She was best friends with two boys that were her age. She played with those younger and older than she was. She would later find out that they were all the cursed children, or used to be._

_Akito was always around, no matter where Kaiyo was on Sohma grounds. One of the older kids, Hatori, started keeping an eye on her. He didn't like the way Akito had been treating Kaiyo; like she was an object that he owned._

_Hatori was out one day when ten-year-old Akito approached Kaiyo. He told her that she was his; it was thanks to him that the cursed Sohma's were now free. She had been the key; and now she had to do what he told her. He kissed her forcefully. When she ran away, he caught her and proceeded to beat her._

_Hatori came in time to save Kaiyo's life. Pulling the girl to safety, he knew that Akito wouldn't leave her alone. He was right. Over a period of two years, Akito continued to make advances on Kaiyo, and then proceeded to beat her when she refused. She lived in fear at the sight of him._

_Hatori tried to protect Kaiyo as best as he could. Eventually, however, it was too hard of a job to do. Akito was named the head of the Sohma household, even though the curse and been broken. He did the only thing he could think of to protect her. Hatori sent Kaiyo overseas; hoping to protect the young girl from the torture she would receive otherwise. After research, he had found out that Kaiyo's mother was originally born overseas. He hoped that they would find some of her relatives so she could live a normal, safe life._

_Kaiyo grew up in foster homes. Her family was never found. She was often bullied for looking different; which had her moved from foster home to foster home. She missed her old friends back at the Sohma household. She would take being beaten everyday over being alone._


	3. Invite

Chapter 3: Invite

Kaiyo looked to her friends, "How did you get here? Why are you here?"

"Hatori drove us here, we're picking up the paperwork to transfer," Kyo explained.

Yuki noticed Kaiyo's confused look. "We're living over here now, us and almost everyone else."

"Wow every…one," her heart skipped a beat as fear flooded her body. She was afraid, but had to know, "who isn't here?"

"Ayame, Ritsu, and Akito."

Kaiyo sighed in relief as her pace returned back to normal. She could feel her body still trembling in fear. "Then where is everyone?

Kyo gave the girl a strange look, "back at the house, unpacking."

"I don't want to keep you here or anything."

"Ah, it's not that bad here," Kyo said, off-handedly.

Yuki spoke up again, "for once he's right; you're not keeping us from anything important. They can unpack some things without us."

She was curious now, "where do you guys live?"

"By…" Kyo started.

Yuki interrupted him, "we'll leave it a secret."

A six-foot-tall man with short black hair approached the teens. He looked to be in his middle to high twenties. His long bangs covered his left eye. You could clearly see his right green eye, it was full of love and concern. "Yuki, Kyo, we should go."

"Hatori!" She greeted him excitedly, "it's good to see you again!"

"You to Kaiyo, we'll contact you soon. Stay well."

"We'll call you," Yuki was getting up to leave, "goodbye."

Kyo turned to leave, "yea, see ya."

Kaiyo stood quickly and waved to her friends, "bye!" For the first time in a long while, she was feeling hopeful again. She watched their retreating backs as they left the commons and headed out of the school building. She knew she'd seem them again, soon.

Savanna walked over to the girl, "come on, let's go already!" She was impatient, it was bad enough that she had to carpool with the girl.

"Sorry…" Kaiyo packed her things up quickly and followed Savanna to her car.

The two teens were quite throughout the ride home. Savanna dropped Kaiyo off at her house before going down and around the corner to her own home.

Kaiyo greeted her foster mom before running up into her room. She dropped her school bag onto her desk; her drawing pencils rolling out onto the hard surface. Without turning on the light, she effortlessly walked over to her bed as she plopped onto it.

She reached instinctively to her bedside table. A single picture frame had been resting, face down. After picking it up, she inspected it for any cracks or tears to the precious photo inside the plain black frame. Nothing was damaged, thank goodness. Sometimes she loved the old photograph to death; other times she wanted nothing to do with it. Right now, she couldn't get enough of the happy faces that shone out to her.

It was her, before she left Japan; before she left her friends. She was surrounded by a handful of Sohma family members. She studied their faces closely. She would be able to see them again. The emptiness that usually filled her was being replaced with the warm happy feeling that she once had.

Kaiyo went down at six for dinner, just as she did every school day. Her foster mother and the other two foster children ate in quiet and went off to do their own things. She returned to her room.

She worked on her drawings for a while. The light outside her window had faded fast as night quickly approached. She didn't even go to turn on the light; she sat in darkness on her bed.

"Kaiyo, phone." Her foster mother called up the steps.

"Alright," she called down. After bounding down the steps, she took the cordless phone back up to her room. She sat on her bed as she took a deep breath. No one ever called her before; so this could only be one family. "Hello?"

"Miss Kaiyo?" It was Yuki's voice on the other end.

"Yuki, that was fast." Indeed, she wasn't expecting to get a phone call later that day from them.

"We just got our phone set up. It needed a test, so I thought I'd call you."

"Wait," she was confused, they just got there. "How did you get."

Yuki cut her off before she could finish her question, "what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Saturday?" Kaiyo didn't even bother looking at her calendar on her nearby wall. She never had anything to do, other than school. "I'm completely free."

"Would you like to come over and see everyone then?"

He didn't even finish his question before the words left her mouth, "yes I'd love to!"

"How does 11am sound?"

"Sure, but…"

Yuki answered her question before she finished, "we'll pick you up."

"Oh," she was caught off guard, how did he know where she lived already?

"I'm sorry to make this short, but it seems that Kyo needs my help."

"No problem, sorry to keep you from unpacking," Kaiyo apologized quickly. Her thumb moved to the off button, but she couldn't push the button.

"Then, until tomorrow Miss Kaiyo," Yuki said before the unfamiliar click of the phone echoed in her ear.

She listened to the dial tone of the phone for a few seconds before turning it off. She returned the phone downstairs, alerting her foster mother that she would be going out with friends the following day. She seemed unconcerned.

Kaiyo returned to her room, excited and nervous about the next day. She went through her small wardrobe looking for just the right outfit. She wanted to impress her friends. The best things he could find were a pair of light blue jeans, a plain dark blue t-shirt with a white sweater. She took a shower before getting ready for bed.

She found it hard to sleep, excited for the next day.


	4. Fear

Chapter 4: Fear

Kaiyo awoke early the next day, still too excited. She dressed for the day and paced her room. She ate breakfast and returned to her room. It was still too early to be picked up. _'What can I do to pass the time?'_ It came to her: draw.

A knock brought her out of her reverie. "Yes?"

"Miss Kaiyo," Yuki slowly opened the door and entered her room.

Kyo followed shortly behind him, "we're here to pick you up."

A blush crept across her face, "just a minute." She got up quickly and put her drawing away. She had been sketching her idea of what the Sohma family looked like now. She had seen Yuki, Kyo, and Hatori; but she was guessing on everyone else.

"Are you ready yet?" the impatient Kyo questioned her.

"Yes!" Kaiyo responded, a little out of breath. She got up and led the boys out of her room and down the stairs. "I'm going out."

The trio left the house before they heard a response. Kaiyo looked around for a car or some type of transportation, but nothing was there. "How…"

"We walked," Yuki answered her question before she could finish her question.

"Walked?" she looked around, "do you live nearby?"

"Yea, we only live two blocks from you," Kyo pointed forward.

"Wow!" Kaiyo was shocked and surprised, "what a coincidence."

"Should we get going?" Yuki questioned them. The three of them started walking towards the Sohma's new home.

The walk was nice. It was the middle of winter, but it wasn't too cold out. There was a nice coverage of snow over everyone's lawns, but the sidewalk was clear. Kaiyo clutched her jacket a bit closer to herself.

"Are you cold, Miss Kaiyo?" Yuki asked, concerned.

"No, but aren't you two?"

"Naw, remember it gets colder than this back in Japan." Kyo pointed out.

They made it to the large house after a twenty minute walk. Before the trio could even approach the house, a group of kids and teens came out the front door.

The group immediately surrounded the trio, with everyone talking at once. Kaiyo turned around in circles, trying to take it all in. She recognized a few of them, but others she couldn't put her finger on who was who. "Hello everyone." She greeted the group.

"Let's not all talk at once." A voice called from outside the circle.

The circle broke and Kaiyo was able to see who she feared it was: Akito.

"Hello Kaiyo," he called to her.

"A...Ak…Akito?" Her frame was shaking. Every cell in her body was screaming to run, but her body was frozen in its place.

"Yes, Kaiyo," He walked closer to her as he spoke, "it was been awhile, hasn't it?"

The rest of the Sohmas took a step back towards the house. Kaiyo didn't move an inch because she couldn't.

Akito placed his hand on her cheek, "This time, I will make sure that you are mine."

Kaiyo's frame shook even harder as she closed her eyes. Silent tears started leaking down her cheeks as she tried to numb herself to the oncoming pain.

She could feel the hostility from the people around her, Akito felt it too. He inched closer to whisper in her ear, "soon." He retracted his hand, turned around, and started walking back down the street.

Kaiyo's body couldn't support her any longer. Her legs gave out as she fell to the snowy lawn. It took a minute for the Sohmas to register what had just happened. Once Kaiyo wasn't moving, they all started acting at once.

"Someone get Hatori!" Kyo shouted.

"I'll go," Hatsuharu said tonelessly as he ran into the house.

"Is she okay?" Kisa questioned.

"Why don't the rest of you go off to your rooms to, umm, tidy up?" Shigure suggested. Kisa, Hiro, Momiji, and Kagura all reentered the house. Shigure knelt next to the passed out Kaiyo. "We need to bring her inside."

"I'll do it." Kyo picked Kaiyo up bridal-style and brought her into the house, followed closely behind by Yuki and Shigure.


	5. Tears

Chapter 5: Awake

Kaiyo's body shook slightly as the sensation of feeling came back to her body. Memories flooded back as her body shook again. Akito had found her; just after she had hope again, it was taken away again.

Her fear was threatening to take over her again, just as it did countless time when she was younger. She took a deep breath and held it for a few moments before exhaling quietly. It worked; for the time being.

She gingerly opened her eyes to darkness. She moved her limbs to feel a blanket was over her body. She sat up suddenly as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. She looked around the room; it seemed a little bigger than her own back at her foster home. She was lying in a moderate sized bed. The room itself was bare besides a door to the farthest wall.

_'Where am I? I passed out then what happened?'_ Fear struck her again at the familiarity of the room. It reminded her of the one she was once stuck in by Akito long ago. Her frame started shaking uncontrollably as she wrapped her arms around her knees.

Light suddenly flood the room from a door in the floor. Yuki walked up from the hidden stairs. "Miss Kaiyo, how are you doing?"

"Yuki?" her voice shook as her eyes struggled to adapt to the brightness.

Yuki effortlessly reached out and turned on the light, filling the room with warm light. He looked to see the girl on the bed shaking. "Miss Kaiyo!" he shouted as he ran to the girl's side. "What's wrong? Are you cold?"

She shook her head, taking a deep breath. "Just bad memories…"

He sat down next to her on the bed. He reached his hand out to comfort her, but retracted it immediately. He didn't know what to do in a situation like this.

"I'll be alright," Kaiyo squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the dark memories back. Her body finally stopped shaking. She opened her eyes once again, "where are we?"

"It's our spare bedroom above the garage. I don't know why, but it's not connected to the main house."

"There are types of houses here that are set up like that." Kaiyo explained effortlessly, "it's to have someone live in the same household, but they still have their own space." Silence followed her explanation, so she filled it with another question. "What time is it?"

"It's late, after ten already." Yuki responded.

Kaiyo's face turned red, "shouldn't you be sleeping then Yuki? Am I keeping you awake? You really don't need to bother yourself with me; I'm not worth it…"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright. Please don't say things like that; you are worth worrying over."

"But I passed out from being touched by Akito. I'm so afraid of him…he keeps saying that I belong to him. I don't even understand what he's talking about: 'breaking the curse.' It makes no sense…" Tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Even after leaving home, I'd have sleepless nights; full of nightmares. I've only been a burden on everyone for as long as I can remember."

Yuki was shocked into silence. All of the information he was learning was news to him.

Kaiyo rubbed furiously at her eyes in attempt to stop the water works. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burst out crying like that; or get all emotional. I don't know where that all came from. I'm usually not like this; just forget everything I just said."

"Miss Kaiyo…" he reached out his hand again, and this time it reached the back of her head. He started stroking her hair gently. "If you ever need to talk, I'm always here to listen."

She stopped rubbing at her eyes and looked at him. He was actually accepting her the way she was. The tears flowed harder as she leaned into his shoulder.

They sat that way for a half hour. Kaiyo continued to cry on Yuki's shoulder until she fell asleep.

"Is she finally back asleep?" Kyo asked, concern filled his voice. He had been shortly behind Yuki up the steps. He had been sitting against the nearby wall, listening in unnoticed.

"Yes."

Kyo walked over and helped Yuki lay Kaiyo back into bed. "I didn't know she was the reason…"

"It was news to me as well," Yuki confessed.

The two stood awkwardly at Kaiyo's bedside for a few minutes before either of them moved. Both walked to the stairs at the same moment, but Kyo passed them to sit against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Yuki questioned him.

"Keeping an eye out for that bastard." Kyo snapped. "It's easy to break into the garage and get in here."

Yuki followed his actions, sitting five feet away from the orange haired teen. "For once, you have a good idea."

"Shut up."

Time passed in silence as both teens sat against the wall.

"Do you know why she's so afraid of him?" Kyo asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Yuki answered truthfully, "do you?"

"No, but Shigure and Hatori seemed concerned earlier after she collapsed. They must know something."

They were both quiet once more. Soon enough, the silence lulled both boys to sleep.


	6. Breakfast

Chapter 6: Breakfast

Kaiyo awoke with a start to the bright room. Panic filled her being again as she looked around at her semi-familiar surroundings. The room was lit now by the sun pouring in the tall window on the wall behind the bed.

Her eyes followed the sunbeams, which landed on the opposite wall five feet above two boys' heads. Both were fast asleep, resting their heads on each other's for support. They were both pretty cute when they weren't fighting.

She chuckled to herself as she pulled herself out of bed. _'Both of them were here, all night; for me.'_ A large smile played across her face as she felt warmer inside. _'They really do care for me after all of this time.'_

After creeping to the sleeping duo, she noticed the door in the floor still open. She snuck around and slipped down the stairs silently. After a bit of searching she found the door that lead into the main house.

She walked down the hall and found herself in the kitchen. Searching through the cupboards resulted in finding the objects she needed as she started working on breakfast.

Someone noisily walked in after about twenty minutes, "something smells good."

Kaiyo turned to see Shigure walking in, "breakfast should be ready shortly!" She spoke to him energetically before turning back to the stove.

Shigure blinked a few times, confused at the sight before him. "Kaiyo, are you really making breakfast?"

"Mhmm," she responded as she flipped the eggs in her pan, "I have coffee already made, the tea is still steeping; I have bread in the toaster and pancake batter ready to be cooked and the eggs are almost done."

"Those are all…interesting things…" Shigure commented dryly.

"Its things that are in a typical American breakfast, I guess I've been over here for so long it's the usual thing for me." Kaiyo commented as she slid the eggs on a waiting plate. "Does any of that sound appeasing to you? Or should I start over and make a more traditional Japanese breakfast? Although I don't know if I really know how to make it all properly…"

"No, no! This will be quite alright." Shigure responded quickly, throwing his hands up in the air. "I think everyone will be happy with not having to make their own food for once."

She started making two pancakes as the eggs set, "so everyone just had to fend for themselves back in Japan?"

Shigure sat down on the small table in the kitchen. He looked over the counter to see she had everything organized and under control. If he had tried to go in and help, he'd make a mess of things. "Not as harsh as that; we'd eat meals together but most of us left the main house as soon as we could. Kyo, Yuki, Haru, Momiji, Kagura and I all lived in the same house. Tori practically lived at his office, he's a doctor now. Ayame lived off of his shop, he makes clothes. Kisa and Hiro were too young to move out of the main household."

She started putting things together on a plate, "what do you do then?"

"I'm an exceptional author!" he beamed.

Kaiyo placed a plate before Shigure. It was filled with pancakes, toast, eggs and bacon. "Then why did you all move over here? You all didn't have to disrupt your lives just for me."

"Ah well…" Shigure fussed, shoving half a pancake in his mouth. He tried talking through it, but it was impossible to understand.

The two of them were interrupted by another of the household entering the kitchen. Hatori walked over to the coffee maker, per his usual routine. He was surprised to see the pot was already full. He pulled down his mug out of the cupboard and poured himself a glass. After taking a sip he looked around at his company.

"Kaiyo?" he questioned her, "how are you feeling?"

"Much better," she smiled at him. "Would you like anything?"

"Sure," Hatori replied, taking a seat at the small table.

Shigure noticed Kaiyo's eyes searching the room, "there is an actual dining room next to this one through those doors." He indicated where by pointing left.

She smiled, "good to know." She put some food on Hatori's plate before putting the rest on serving plates in the adjacent room. It seemed the smell of the food was waking everyone else up; sounds of moving bodies could be heard coming from the second floor.

"Wow, breakfast?" Kisa questioned, the first of the group to emerge from upstairs.

"Good morning Kisa," Kaiyo greeted her.

"Kaiyo!" Kisa ran to her, hugging her tightly.

The older girl laughed lightly as the air was squeezed out of her. "Why don't you grab a plate and dish up?"

"Kay!" the younger girl grabbed a plate and skipped into the dining room.

Hiro wasn't far behind her. He grunted a greeting, grabbed a plate, and followed Kisa into the next room.

"Something smells yummy!" a blond boy entered next. He spotted the teen in the kitchen with the apron on. "Did you?"

"Yea, thought I'd surprise everyone," Kaiyo responded to him.

"Cool!" he followed the two previous Sohmas into the dining room.

Hatsuharu came in tonelessly and poured himself a cup of coffee without looking up at the company around him. He joined everyone else, sitting in his own corner.

Shigure chuckled at the teen's behavior and grabbed his own plate to join the kids in the other room as Kagura entered the kitchen grumbling.

"Good morning Kagura," Kaiyo greeted her.

"You haven't seen Kyo, have you?" she responded to the teen. "I looked in Haru's room, the roof, all of his usual hiding spots but I couldn't find him."

"He'll show up eventually," Hatori commented, indicating for her to drop the subject.

She took his hint as she grabbed her own plate and joined the others.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Kaiyo questioned him.

"I should be asking you the same thing."

"I ate while I was working on making the bulk of it, so I'm good."

Hatori was spared from answering with the arrival of a sleepy Kyo. He grumbled as he rubbed his hand through his hair. He stretched out his neck as he moaned.

"Sore neck?" Kaiyo stifled a giggle.

He turned to glare at her, "I'm guessing you made all the food? No one else here would be that ambitious."

"Mhmm, I thought I'd repay you all for your hospitality. The first thing that popped in my head was to make breakfast; although Shigure pointed out that it's pretty strange…"

Kyo turned his head to glare into the dining room. He turned back to her, "don't worry about it. Everyone seems to be enjoying it anyways."

"Alright," she smiled at him.

"Yuki is still missing," Haru pointed out, he was finally awake after his coffee.

"I'll go get him, why don't you eat something?" Kaiyo offered after popping her head into the room. She left the kitchen and her group of friends for the garage.


	7. Attack

Chapter 7: Attack

Kaiyo entered the garage and walked up the latter, entering the open door into the bedroom. Peeking over to the wall revealed Yuki asleep on the floor where she had left him earlier that morning. She walked over to him, shaking him gently. "Yuki, wake up; breakfast is ready."

"Kaiyo?" he answered her, still half asleep.

She chuckled, "Good morning, sleepy head."

He jerked himself awake, "Miss Kaiyo! I wasn't any trouble, was I?"

"No, not at all," she smiled sweetly to him. "Just come on down when you're ready." She returned back downstairs and started down the hall. Things really felt like they did when she lived back in Japan. She almost forgot about her foster mom until she passed a phone.

_'I should probably call her,'_ Kaiyo thought as she picked up the phone and dialed her home number. It rang a few times before someone picked it up.

"Hi."

She greeted her foster mother like any other day.

"What? Oh Hatori already called last night?"

The news surprised her.

"Yes, I'm alright."

"I'll stop by later to get some things."

"No, I don't know how long I'll be staying. It is winter break after all."

She was growing irritated; her foster mother was being unreasonable.

"Why do you care all of a sudden what I do?"

She was really mad now. Her brow crumpled down in frustration.

"Fine! Maybe I will!"

Her grip on the phone tightened.

"Bye!"

Kaiyo slammed the phone back on the receiver with a little more force than what was necessary. She stormed down the hall back into the kitchen.

"Is everything alright?" Hatori questioned her.

"Yea," Kaiyo responded a little harshly.

Haru exited the noisy dining room, "I thought you had gone to get Yuki."

She turned to him, "I did, he hasn't come down yet?"

"Why don't you go get him Kyo?" Shigure suggested, pushing the orange-haired teen out of the dining room.

"Hell no."

Kaiyo was still frustrated over her previous phone call; she wanted to get out of the loud space. "I'll go again." She left without listening to anyone else as she retraced her previous steps to the garage.

She walked up the now familiar steps back up into the spare bedroom. She looked where she had last seen Yuki; but he wasn't there. She glanced around the room for any sign of him. There, on the bed was a lump of a body.

After walking to the bed, it turned out to be the unconscious body of Yuki. She shook him gingerly once again, trying to wake the teen. No response, she shook him a bit harder. Finally the teen was starting to stir. "Yuki, are you alright?"

"Stop Miss Kaiyo, it's a trap!"

Before she had time to react, she was pulled backwards by her hair onto the hard floor. She landed with a loud thud and looked to her attacker: Akito.

"I told you; I'd come for you." His cold voice penetrated her bones.

"Leave her alone!" Yuki shouted, trying to get up off the bed.

"Shut up, you stinking rat. As far as you zodiac members go, I own Kaiyo. I was able to change her into the key that I needed to lift that horrendous curse." During his speech, not once did he take his eyes off of Kaiyo.

Her body started to shake once more. Akito raised his arm as she clenched her eyes shut. She didn't want to watch him hit her once again. The pain never came, only the sound of a body colliding with a soft surface.

She opened her eyes to see Yuki's frame once again unmoving on the bed. "Yuki!"

"He's out of the way now…" he turned and reached out for her.

Kaiyo turned and tried to get away. Her shirt was grabbed as she tried to get away. A ripping sound filled her ears as the shirt tore at the right seam. She got away, inching to the wall. She wrapped her arms around herself to try to cover her bra from view.

Akito was left holding her shirt. He sneered at her as he tossed the white rag to the floor. "You little…" he growled as he started to approach her.

She clenched her eyes shut once more, trying to block the world out. Try as she might, each footfall she heard sounded like doom. Her breathing came in gasps as her frame shook harder than ever.

"Get the hell away from her," Kyo's voice sounded just before a loud smacking sound.

Kaiyo opened her eyes again to see Kyo's fist in the air. Akito was knocked back, his lip bleeding from the punch.

"Kyo, how nice; you came to the recuse. Unfortunately you won't succeed." Akito regained his footing as he approached the orange-haired teen. He pulled his own fist back and planted it hard into his opponent's stomach.

Kyo was pushed back, the wind was knocked out. His right arm was wrapped around his stomach as he tried to regain his breath.

"Kyo!" Kaiyo managed to force out. The words felt like lead as they left her lips.

"Sure, the curse might have made me week once. Since I lifted it, I have gotten stronger. I know a thing or two about fighting." His grin was evil as he approached Kaiyo once more.

"You hurt Yuki and Kyo," Kaiyo's voice was shaking, almost to the point you couldn't understand her words. She shrank back to the wall as the words escaped her as if they had a mind of their own. "How could you…do that to your own family?"

Akito stopped to glare at her. "Them? My family? They all stopped obeying me once I lifted the curse."

"You can't be part of a family, then just leave on a whim!" Her voice was stronger than she felt.

He chuckled manically, "water is thinner than blood, but blood is thinner than hate, anger and revenge!" He resumed his approach.

She clenched her eyes tight once more, "you can't disregard family!" Her arm moved on its own. Her hand made contact with Akito's cheek. Her eyes opened wide in shock to see a red mark on the left side of his face.

His face turned into absolute rage. "How dare you slap me, you foolish girl!" Both arms shot out towards her face.

Kaiyo had lost all control of her body to fear. The signals in her nervous system were colliding with one another. She was completely helpless.

At the last possible moment, both Sohma teens grabbed one of Akito's arms. After pulling him a few feet from Kaiyo, they simultaneously punched him in the gut. They spoke in unison, "Leave now and never touch her again!"

Akito coughed up blood, trying to regain his breath. He stumbled backwards towards the exit. "Next time…" he muttered as he gracefully grabbed the stairs, sliding out of view.

Both teens approached the shaking girl against the wall. Kyo had pulled off his own shirt and tossed it to her.

Kaiyo managed to nod her head as she shakily picked up the offering. It took her a few minutes to get the coordination of her limbs to put the oversized shirt on.

Yuki knelt next to her, "are you alright?"

She nodded her head again. "Are you two…" her voice was quiet and weak.

"I'm fine," Kyo answered confidently.

"I'm alright," Yuki added.

The shaking in Kaiyo's body started to subside as her breathing returned to normal. "Good." Her voice was still quiet. "I wouldn't want you two to get hurt just because you were trying to protect me."

"Don't say those kinds of things!" Kyo said rashly.

"Thanks…" she muttered.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you sooner." Yuki apologized.

Kaiyo only managed to shake her head. It was all her fault that they were hurt in the first place. Akito had come there after her.

"It's alright, I wanted to be involved…I mean, it's Akito. I wanted to fight him if he was doing anything bad…I mean…" Kyo was flustered trying to find the right words.

She turned to him and smiled sweetly; she knew what he was trying to get across. She turned just in time to watch Yuki's unconscious body hit the floor once more.


End file.
